Hierarchical systems and methods for providing a unified view of storage information

• US 7,343,453 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2005
• Issued: 03/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Bunte, Alan G., May, Andreas, Prahlad, Anand, Lunde, Norman R., Kavuri, Srinivas, Madeira, Andre Duque, Schwartz, Jeremy
• Primary Examiner(s): PORTKA, GARY J
• Application Number:
  US11/120,619
• Publication Number:
  US 20060053261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,044 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1446 Point-in-time backing up or restoration of persistent data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1461 Backup scheduling policy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0619 in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0631 by allocating resources to storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0649 Lifecycle management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/065 Replication mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0653 Monitoring storage devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 : Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 : Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0685 : Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0686 : Libraries, e.g. tape libraries, jukebox
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 : Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 : Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 : Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 : Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 : Archiving or backup

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for data storage. A hierarchical storage management architecture is presented to facilitate data management. The disclosed system provides methods for evaluating the state of stored data relative to enterprise needs by using weighted parameters that may be user defined. Also disclosed are systems and methods evaluating costing and risk management associated with stored data.

Claims

1. A method for displaying data from storage operation cells, the method comprising:

at a parent storage operation cell, receiving data associated with a condition of a first storage operation cell, the first storage operation cell being arranged as a child cell to the parent storage operation cell in a hierarchy of storage operation cells, the data including at least a first identifier associated with a first storage resource, the first storage operation cell comprising at least a storage manager component and the first storage resource;

at the parent storage operation cell, receiving data associated with a condition of a second storage operation cell comprising a second storage resource, the second storage operation cell being arranged as a child cell of the parent storage operation cell in the hierarchy of storage operation cells, the data including at least a second identifier associated with the second storage resource;

determining whether the first identifier is distinguishable from the second identifier;

upon determining that the first identifier is not distinguishable from the second identifier, generating a third identifier and associating the third identifier with the first storage resource, wherein the third identifier is distinguishable from the second identifier; and

displaying the data associated with the first and second storage operation cells, the displayed data including at least the second or third identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first storage resource is a primary data storage device and the second storage resource is a secondary storage device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the primary data storage device stores a production copy of data and the secondary storage device stores a backup copy.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first storage resource is a hierarchical storage management resource and the second storage resource is a storage resource management resource.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first storage operation cell further comprises a data agent and a media agent.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first storage operation cell further comprises a client and a management agent.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising simultaneously displaying the data associated with the first and second storage operation cells in a management console.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the third identifier of the first storage resource is a name associated with a client device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the third identifier is automatically generated when a new component is associated with a network including the first and second storage resources.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier third is not used by another storage resource in a network including the first and second storage resources.

11. A method for performing a storage operation in a storage operation cell, the method comprising:

receiving data associated with a condition of a first storage operation cell, the data including at least a first identifier identifying a first storage resource within the first storage operation cell, the first storage operation cell comprising at least a storage manager component and the first storage resource;

receiving data associated with a condition of a second storage operation cell, the data including at least a second identifier identifying the first storage resource within the second storage operation cell, wherein the first and second storage operation cells are logically separate but share at least the first storage resource;

at a third storage operation cell hierarchically related as a parent to the first and second storage operation cells, determining whether the first identifier is distinct from the second identifier;

upon determining that the first identifier is distinct from the second identifier, generating a third identifier uniquely identifying the first storage resource within the third storage operation cell;

determining whether the data associated with the condition of the first storage operation cell satisfies a storage-related criterion; and

upon determining that the data associated with the condition of the first storage operation cell satisfies the storage-related criterion, performing a storage operation based at least in part upon the determination.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage-related criterion is defined in relation to a predefined storage policy, the storage policy comprising a data structure that further comprises a set of preferences for performing a storage operation.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage-related criterion is a storage threshold for the first storage resource, and wherein the storage threshold defines at least two parameters selected from a group consisting of data availability, retention period, protection level, disaster recovery level, hardware load, and network load.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising migrating data from the first storage resource to another storage resource to reduce usage at the first storage resource based on the storage-related criterion.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the storage-related criterion is defined in a service level agreement.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage-related criterion defines a number of secondary copies of the first storage resource.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage-related criterion defines that no secondary copy of the first storage resource exists.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage-related criterion is based at least in part on a storage resource management threshold associated with a primary data resource or a hierarchical storage management threshold associated with a secondary data resource.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage operation is the performance of an action.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the storage operation is the triggering of an event.